I'm finally home from my vacation! I got home Tuesday night about 7pm. It took me an hour to delete all my spam emails, and sort through all the valid ones and read some of them. Yesterday I was busier than heck at work. I only had one day to get all my July stuff done. Fortunately, my boss was helping me out, and I was able to get everything done, but just barely. Today was more normal, not as busy, and I easily got everything done. I even had time around lunch to talk to Kerry, who needed a good ear, and I got caught up on making file folders for orders that I entered right before my vacation.

The wedding was beautiful! I didn't have the best seat in the house. I was in the third row, waaaaayyyyyy over on the left side, so some of my view was blocked by her five bridesmaids/maid-of-honor. But it was a beautiful ceremony, and thankfully only about 30 minutes long. Minnesota was just as hot and humid, if not more so, than here in Chicago. I think Sunday it got up to 99.5F, before the heat index.

I'm really glad I went, I got to visit with my cousins for a bit, and I now have a new and happy memory for July 29. You see, it's the date my mother died, and I was feeling a little melancholy about it all day. I didn't want to mention it to anyone, especially my aunt, since it was a special day to them. But at the reception, my persistant cousin and mother of the bride, got me to tell her why I wasn't up dancing and having a good time. She is the one that pointed out that now I have a new, happy memory for that day, gave me a big hug, and moved onto another table, lol.

One reason I love visiting my aunt and uncle is that my aunt loves to talk, and she loves to tell stories about family history. She took courses on geneaology, and did a complete family history, discovering that we are related to William the Conqueror. She put together a whole three-ring binder, which I have somewhere in my apartment. She also has been working on typing up family history, regarding more informal references regarding who was married to whom, and who raised other people's kids, which parents died in car crashes, etc. Stories that if aren't put in writing will be lost forever. I will get a copy of it once she's done typing it all up. And she still types on her electric typewriter. My aunt will be 79 in December, and still gets around quite well.

My uncle suffers from alzheimers, as I mentioned in a previous post. I was able to notice the progression while I was there. He is very quiet, even more so than he was before. He doesn't do much, he reads the paper each morning, and then he basically sits in his chair or on the couch much of the day doing not much. He sort of follows my aunt around like a lost puppy. One day while I was there, he and I were sitting in the living room quietly, my aunt was downstairs taking laundry out of the dryer, and after being gone only a few minutes, my uncle got up and went downstairs to see what she was doing; as if he knew she was downstairs, but didn't remember why.

They have their three meals each day at pretty regular times. My aunt makes quilts in the winter, she has a book club at church that she participates in monthly, and she works to keep the garden watered and weeded (sort of). She's not the best housekeeper, but who would be at 78? She had someone coming every other week to clean, but I think there were problems with her reliability, so that arrangement ended. My second oldest cousin, Don, is the most attentive of the four children. He stops by a couple times a week, and calls her almost every day (and he lives the furthest away.) He was the one that convinced my aunt to get a new stove top when one of them wasn't working anymore, and since they don't make stovetops that size anymore, she needed new countertops, and since they'd have to pull out the sink to put the countertops in, they might as well replace the sink she never liked in the first place. Don was also able to finally convince my aunt to replace her old worn out couch and loveseat, and the new ones are very nice. They are a dark green with these flower sort of patterns on them. Now if he could just convince her to get rid of the shag carpeting, lmao.

I was able to take pictures at the reception, which I'll post once I receive them back from Target next week. I also took pictures at The Raptor Center, on Friday July 28. My tour was guided by Sharon, who is an avid birdwatcher. (Scroll down at her blog, there's a picture of me holding a dried bird head.) I am a faithful reader of her blog, and was anxious to see some of the birds up close that she mentions frequently. I received the special treatment while there. I received a tour unlike most other tours. Sharon took my down to the veterinary area, where they were working on a rough-necked hawk, and a couple of cooper's hawks. I was able to take pictures which I'll post next week also. Then I went outside to the cages where the education birds are kept. I saw bald eagles, golden eagles, hawks, owls...plus a couple others I can't remember. I should have taken notes of what I was seeing, or taken pictures of the little signs on the outside of the cages identifying the birds. Of course, that was all hindsight! And since The Raptor Center, which is part of the University of Minnesota relies on donations from visitors, and the volunteers who work so hard, they request a donation. I was happy to oblige, and after the tour I received, I willingly doubled my intended donation! Sharon was a great guide, and is SO knowledgeable about all the birds of prey at the raptor center.

Wow, I don't blog in a week, and look how I've gone on and on! And now it's past my bedtime! I better hurry to bed or I might turn into a pumpkin.